Just got a new Acer laptop and need some help

Okay I just got the Acer Aspire 5050 410, I put Counter-Strike:Source on it, it runs great when in single player with bots, but it will freeze and have me close the game after 5-10 mins of play. Also how come when I look for servers all the server's ping show up as 125+? While on my desktop which is on the same wireless network gets much lower ping for CS? I haven't installed any driver updates, just window's updates and Norton. Do I need to do any other driver updates... i.e. graphics card updates? The graphics card is the Ati Radeon Xpress 1100. Also do I need to download Directx?

 

Well if you are playing on a wireless network I can tell you that gaming is not the best on wireless but it is possible. I have never obtained a ping of below 90ms on my B/G network here at home.

If you for sure want lower pings than 80ms or so go check out the pre-n routers and cards that are out at www.newegg.com , they have great results and can be flashed to offical "N" certification when it does pass with the FCC and other organizations.

The ultimate solution is to go wired or get a stronger faster signal. If your desktop is getting a lower ping (and is wireless not wired) then it is a chipset issue etc. But if you are stating that a wired desktop computer has a lower ping than your wireless laptop then yes this is correct. It will always be that way.

--ssx--

 

My desktop is wireless via usb, so it must be the chipset, what can I do about it? Also why does the CS:S keep freezing up and forces me to close it? Any driver updates I should get?

 

I would suggest that first and foremost that you go wired when gaming. You will have better latency and a better gaming experience. If this is not an option I understand, but essentially it would be nice to go wired for better speed and performance.

If CS:S is locking up take a look at your event viewer for any errors, etc.



It may be a heat issue, or a software issue (I doubt it's a hadware issue). Make sure your laptop is getting proper cooling first, and we'll go from there

As far as driver updates I would suggest that you backup your entire partition table and burn a backup dvd before you start futzing with any large drivers (especially the chipet / vga drivers) simply because we've seen people do some crazy things here as a result. Check out Acronis 7 for free - http://www.acronis.com/mag/vnu-ati7
Grab a blank dvd or 2 and take an hr and create a backup for yourself.

Once that is done I would suggest wiping the exisitng drivers off your laptop with driver cleaner (be sure to be in safe mode when you do it) and install the omegadrivers instead www.omegadrivers.net . Once that is done try running cs:s again and see if you get lockups.

--ssx--

 

I am running CS Source very well and I have the latest Catalyst drivers. I use those because it automatically sizes games that do not have a wide screen option and seem more stable. On official maps I rarely drop below 30 fps during a crowded gunfight. I also would never try playing CS with wireless because you'll probably timeout within 5 minutes of playing.

Make sure you turn off HDR completely and I turn off AA and leave the anisotropic at x8. Other than that everything is set to high except water detail is world only.

 

There's no possible way you play CS:S on a x1100 on all high settings with AF8x. It's just not possible on that graphics card.

 

Okay i just tried it wired and I get the same pings. Do I just plug in the ethernet cable to the laptop and go to my network and disable the wireless?

 

You can easily find out whether that's the cause by using the USB on the laptop. Just turn off the built-in wireless and plug in the USB wireless.

 

Well I hooked it up wia ethernet cable and it shows my connection at a high speed, yet I still get high ping servers and only about 125 shows up when I hit refresh.

 

get rid of background processes...

 

I haven't been on my desktop since I got my laptop went on today, and checked steam, same thing happens, all servers are high pign and only 90 servers.While last week, it was much much more servers with lower ping. How can this be possible?

 

Okay I just fixed the server problem, I just turned off my modem and router and turned it back on and problem solved. CS:S still locks up on me, sometimes, it fine and it will run without freezing, btu sometimes after 5-10 mins of play it locks up. Any idea how to fix this?